Federal prosecutors deliberately withheld evidence while pursuing cases against individuals who protested at abortion clinics, according to a new Department of Justice (DOJ) report released on Tuesday.
The DOJ Weaponization Working Group’s inaugural report examined what the Trump administration has called the Biden administration’s misuse of the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act. The 1994 law makes it a federal crime to injure, intimidate, or interfere with people seeking or providing abortions or pregnancy-related services.
The working group was created in 2025 by former Attorney General Pam Bondi to investigate alleged politicization of the Justice Department.
After reviewing FACE Act prosecutions brought by the DOJ through January 2025, investigators found that prosecutors “knowingly withheld evidence that defense counsel requested to prepare an affirmative defense” and “falsely claimed to not have such information available.”
The report also concluded that the DOJ applied the law unevenly through its National Task Force on Violence Against Reproductive Health Care Providers.
“Though the FACE Act was supposed to protect both pro-choice and pro-life facilities, Biden DOJ senior leadership and Task Force Members provided extensive support to abortion clinics, yet the Biden DOJ often ignored and downplayed vandalism and attacks against pregnancy resource centers or houses of worship,” the 882-page document states.
Investigators further uncovered evidence that DOJ personnel collaborated with abortion-rights groups to monitor and target anti-abortion activists. In several instances, abortion-advocacy organizations identified specific individuals, who were then charged by federal prosecutors.
The working group also determined that prosecutors routinely sought tougher penalties for pro-life defendants compared with those sought for individuals who supported abortion and faced charges for violent acts.
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said the findings confirm a “two-tiered system of justice” that will not be tolerated.
“No Department should conduct selective prosecution based on beliefs,” Blanche stated. “The weaponization that happened under the Biden Administration will not happen again, as we restore integrity to our prosecutorial system.”
Soon after taking office in January 2025, President Donald Trump pardoned numerous individuals convicted under the FACE Act during the prior administration. The DOJ has since dismissed several pending cases and reached settlements in others to correct what it described as injustices against clinic protesters.
“The behavior unearthed in this report is shameful,” Assistant Attorney General Daniel Burrows said. “Lawyers who should have known better withheld evidence, worked to keep committed religious people off juries, and generally allowed the Department of Justice to be used as the enforcement arm of pro-abortion special interests.”
